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A backstage pass to current musical issues.

Seasoned industry insider Trevor Reekie dodges past security to get to the heart of industry trends and happenings, pinning down the people with the good oil on the current state of the music biz, and where it might be going, as well as occasional glances over the shoulder to see how we got here.

A definitive new retrospective collection covering the work of Huddie William Ledbetter aka Lead Belly – Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection – has just been released. Trevor Reekie talks to Jeff Place from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, who curated the collection.

Formed in Bristol in 1977, The Pop Group was at the forefront of the post-punk movement, carving out an influential niche for themselves that has seen them name dropped by the likes of Nick Cave, Primal Scream and Massive Attack.

Shep Gordon managed an eclectic bunch of artists that included Alice Cooper, Anne Murray, Groucho Marx, Teddy Pendergrass and many more. He's also credited with creating the 'celebrity chef' phenomenon. Shep's career has recently been documented in a new movie directed by Mike Myers called Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon. Trevor Reekie caught up with Shep to talk about the movie and his career.

In 1976, Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera launched Stiff Records, unleashing an eclectic catalogue of records by artists like Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and a quirky bunch of pub rockers, before the label went bankrupt in 1986. Author Richard Balls has just published a book, Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story, charting the rise and fall of Stiff - he talked to Trevor Reekie.

The late Scottish musician Martyn Bennett was a formidable piper, DJ, producer and live performer who passed away (aged 33) in 2005. In January, the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow marked the 10th anniversary of his untimely passing with an orchestral recreation of his last album, Grit, arranged by Greg Lawson - a long-time friend of Bennett and a notable musician in his own right. Trevor Reekie talks to Lawson about the musical legacy of his late, great collaborator.

Mark Rye has a background that has seen him work for pioneering prog-rock label Harvest records in the early 70s and in artist management. Most recently, Rye has called upon his contacts to provide anecdotes for his website RockHistory.co.uk, as well as a recently published book, Over Under Sideways Down. Rye tells Trevor Reekie about his memories of many of the people he has worked with in the UK music scene.

The Mockers' Andrew Fagan has sailed the seas as much as he has commandeered the airwaves with a musical and literary career that has resulted in books of poetry, an autobiography, a broadcasting career and a back catalogue of songs spanning three decades. Trevor Reekie speaks to Fagan ahead of his nationwide tour with his band The People.

Johnny Thunders, who died in 1991 aged 38, was the iconic guitarist for the New York Dolls and later the Heartbreakers, bands that would influence the English punk movement and a score of LA hair metal bands - despite being marginalised by the industry. Trevor Reekie talks to Nina Antonia, long-time friend of Thunders and author of Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood, about the life and hard times of a rock 'n' roll icon.

From Birmingham, Alabama, Lonnie Holley is a self-taught visual artist and musician. In his 64 years, Holley has overcome grinding poverty to pursue his art, and now his idiosyncratic improvised music is being championed by a growing legion of musicians, fans and critics. Midway through a North American tour with Daniel Lanois, Trevor Reekie tracks down Holley and his manager Matt Arnett.

Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley and Martin Kemp talk to Trevor Reekie about their career, from being posterboys of the New Romantic pop culture movement in the late 70s, to their acrimonious fall out that saw the band face off in court, and eventual reunion.

When they called it a day in 1998 after nearly two decades together, Melbourne's Hunters & Collectors was a multi-platinum selling band, with a ferocious live reputation, and a catalogue of songs that continue to resonate in Australia's musical landscape. The 1998 line-up have reformed for a handful of shows in Australia and New Zealand. Trevor Reekie talks Hunters & Collectors vocalist and lyricist Mark Seymour about the career of one of Australia's most iconic bands.